So our self-proclaimed pet peacock has been somewhat of an annoyance. He's a little too proud for his own good (in general), but the other day I awoke to loud noises in the kitchen. I thought one of my housemates was cooking obnoxiously, but lo and behold it was Peacock, knocking over pots and pans. No big deal I thought, I've seen him wandering our halls before, but he outdid himself. He was constantly pecking at the glass screen door, trying to escape, and worked himself into such a frenzy that he must have pooped every five minutes. All over the floor. For some reason (he's a bird?) he couldn't just leave through the open back door, how he got in. Oh well... at least our floors are concrete.

So I don't think the prednisone did anything. Well, it changed things so that my leg is now constantly on fire. I'm not sure if this is a normal condition of sciatica, but I have an appointment with a neurologist tomorrow to at least find out what the heck is wrong with my back/leg. I can't really sit. Or stand. Or lie down. It's a little hard to just be. I really really miss playing basketball, and I've been catching most of the Laker games this season which is a little masochistic.

Cosmos is a beautiful series, and I'm definitely sad that it's over. I watched some more Charlie Rose interviews with Carl Sagan, and I'm almost as angry as the man himself that he passed away so early. Such a champion of the scientific method, of exploration, of curiosity should have lasted longer. In any case, it's re-ignited my fascination with space and I'm hunting down space videos, NASA updates, and any other related material in my spare time. More specifically, I've been following mission STS-129 (Space Shuttle Atlantis) - all the briefings, videos and updates. The NASA iPhone app is a wonderful resource for this.

Halloween prompted a pumpkin-carving party, and a Napoleon Dynamite-themed cast of characters (I was Pedro). We went to the Hollywood madness on Santa Monica Blvd, but didn't want to try and park out there, so we parked downtown and took the bus. For almost 3 hours. Along with a ton of other disgruntled, in-costume passengers. It was actually pretty funny and somewhat memorable (along with some entertaining new acquaintances). Photos.

Our Nucleus five-year show came and went, and we enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces at the event. I was a little bit overwhelmed, it was hard to talk to everyone, but I'm glad everyone made it out! Back to work, marching towards the 10-year show...